Re: Wolves
I would agree that they are usually much different in storytelling. The fox, when paired with a wolf, always struck me as the underdog that has to use their brains to preveil against the strong wolf.

One favorite story of mine featuring both. I like how the fox doesn't leave the wolf to die is this version, as opposed to most of the Grimm tellings.

sUnregistered User(12/4/05 3:03 am)

Thankyou!
Thankyou everyone for your responses,
Definitely gave me some other sources to look at!
What im looking for in particular is the wolf in relation to the human male- that is the wolf as a symbol of male desires etc..
Thanks for your help!

Sarah

ColleenUnregistered User(12/5/05 11:24 am)

Fenris Ulf
I'm surprised, especially with the new Narnia movie coming out this week, that no one has mentioned Fenris Ulf. He was one of the White Queen's henchmen in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - a huge wolf, an evil character. I've read, but I don't know for sure, that in the English editions he was called Maugrim. I like both names, but Fenris Ulf seems more "evil wolfish" to me. Maugrim seems more wizardy. Whichever name you know him by, he seems to be inspired both by fairy tales and Norse mythology.

Judith
BermanRegistered User(12/5/05 10:34 pm)

le loup, le renard et la bellette
Now I was just listening to the Cajun song (Balfa Brothers) about the wolf, the fox and the weasel. My French isn't good enough to follow the lyrics, except that they seem to be dancing.

I may have mentioned here before that the role of the wolf in oral tradition is very different in hunting cultures, where they are often admired for hunting prowess. In some groups from the north Pacific coast, wolves are the primary initiator of shamans, male or female (who have dreams or visions or actual encounters with wolves)--wolves have the power to restore the dead to life. Although they are sometimes represented as antagonists in myth, can "show mercy" or "take pity" on the dead hero just as they did with real-life shamans. There are some important myths in which wolves, or half-wolf children, become ancestors of certain lineages (interestingly one is sometimes--always??--female).

I have sat on the beach at night listening to wolves. In fact a wolf once woke me up howling about 10 feet (it sounded that way, but was doubtless a little further off) from where I was sleeping in the forest. The sound is amazing, hair-raising. As I recall Paul Winter uses it in Missa Gaia. I never felt the wolves who frequented our beach were dangerous to me, although of course I had no livestock to protect. Our neighbor across the water had a huge dog who attacked the pack when they came on his property and he (dog) was mauled, but survived.

hairpinaUnregistered User(12/26/05 11:22 am)

wolf as a name
I kind of stumbled over here, as I was doing a search for wolf and serbian lore.

Long story short... my husband and I are having a baby and when we saw the name wolf we both instantly liked it. I'm not serbian but have a friend who is. So when we told him that we are going to name the child wolf (middle name), he said that serbian peoples often name a 2nd son wolf if the first one was lost somehow. This is a coincidence, as I lost a previous pregnancy.

To me a wolf is a survivor, independent, and a wise and old spirit.

It's also interesting how someone had mentioned wolves are beings of light. As our choice for first name is lucian, which means "man of light".

Veronica SchanoesRegistered User(12/26/05 11:51 am)

re: wolf as a name
I am sorry to hear that you lost a pregnancy, and I wish you joy in your son. Best wishes!

Rosemary LakeRegistered User(12/26/05 2:48 pm)

foxes
The foxes I've seen (north of San Francisco) are beautiful and graceful! They look like a cross between a cat and a long slender dog, with a long plumy tail. They could hardly menace anything larger than a chicken.

Earlier in the thread some people are talking about tales with wolves that I've read with foxes instead: the fox lets the hero ride on his tail and gives him good advice.

For a good wolf in myth, there's the Stregha 'golden wolf' born at winter solstice; iirc his name may be 'Lupercus'.

sjcottrellRegistered User(12/28/05 5:01 am)

Re: wolf
my favorite depiction of the wolf is in the book 10th kingdom. wolf is a man-shaped being who is driven by the dividing forces of hunger and love. definitely worth a look!

nenafayRegistered User(1/3/06 3:36 pm)

Re: wolves
I read something ages ago about wolves, especially werewolves, being representative of sexual predators in fairy tales. Sorry I can't remember the book. It was certainly interesting.

beautifulstarsUnregistered User(1/11/06 11:02 am)

wolves...
...wolves and their appearance in fairytales has been of particular interest to me. Besides Angela Carter's fascinating 'LLRH,' or 'wolf-trilogy,' there has been interesting mention of wolves in several revisionist poems, including Anne Sexton's 'Little Red Riding Hood' in which she refers to the wolf as a transvestite, and someone...can't recall the name....who wrote a poem called 'Postscript to Sexton's LLRH' which is a reply from the wolf himself to all the blame he receives for his actions.

As well, Catherine Orenstein has written an interesting book called 'Little Red Riding Hood Uncloaked' which looks at various incarnations/interpretations of the wolf including his role as predator, and, in revisionist works, as the prey to LLRH's predatory nature.

The Gingersnaps trilogy is also quite good, as someone mentioned. I might also look at Kelly Armstrong's new werewolf series, the first of which is 'Bitten' which relates the life of the single female werewolf left alive. Discusses some mythology.